A public meeting to discuss the introduction of a low traffic neighbourhood became so hostile that councillors were in tears and council staff were offered “wellbeing” leave to recover, the High Court was told on Wednesday.The “drop in” event, at West Norwood library in April 2023, was called by Lambeth council to inform residents of plans for a LTN in West Dulwich.
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NewsTranscript
00:00We're here today because we want to question the decision-making process the
00:04council have gone through in deciding to put this Low Traffic Neighbourhood in
00:08place, particularly how they've consulted and engaged the residents and how they've
00:12considered government guidance on the need for local traffic neighbourhoods to
00:17have community support.
00:19And they haven't had community support.
00:22There's 67.5% of those who responded to the consultation didn't want any of
00:29the LTN to come into force. They've ignored all of that. We as part of the
00:35West Dullings Action Group, where we support over a thousand residents, locals
00:40and businesses, have put together a case where we've shown that actually the LTN
00:47increases traffic, increases pollution and actually there's 6,300 children who
00:54go to school on the boundary roads which the council don't even evaluate or
01:01monitor. They just look at people within the LTN. And so we've gone to them with
01:05clear concerns that something's wrong and they've actually ignored it. They've
01:10pretended to listen. Yes, yes, yes, we'll get back to you. We gave them plenty of
01:16time to answer our questions and you never get an answer to a question.
01:20We're the first council to call a climate emergency and you get generalisms.
01:25I think the process the council's gone through has been shockingly bad and they
01:31haven't really had any intention to listen properly to the concerns
01:35expressed by the community. They've planned to do this all along and the
01:39process they've gone through has been a sham.
01:41How would you rate your chances of success?
01:43I think we've got a good chance of success. These cases are difficult to win but I
01:48think we've got a good chance of success.
01:50What difference would it make to residents if you do secure a victory emergency?
01:54It's about councils listening to their community and if you listen to your
02:01community who know where they live, they understand the needs of the community.
02:07You know, on our boundary roads you've got all the poorer communities who live
02:11and they're going to suffer more pollution whereas people in the LTN
02:15won't. So, if you listen to your community and get support for things, it
02:19would just be much better in this day and age where you're being told what to
02:22do all the time.